Privacy Scare: man claiming to be BBMP official seeks Aadhaar numbers

While the Union government's push for wider application of Aadhaar has triggered a nationwide debate on privacy , the scare came knocking on people's doors in the city on Wednesday.ET Bureau | May 18, 2017, 08:24 IST

While the Union government's push for wider application of Aadhaar has triggered a nationwide debate on privacy , the scare came knocking on people's doors in the city on Wednesday.

A man claiming to be a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike official went door-to-door in Malleswaram ,collecting Aadhaar numbers of residents.He also collected their mobile numbers and blood group.

Introducing himself as Hanumantharaju and even flashing an identity card, he claimed that the BBMP was linking Aadhaar with voter ID. Both the BBMP and the state election commission denied having initiated any such project.

Residents of KT Apartments in Malleswaram are a worried lot, with some even contemplating a police complaint. “The man looked to be under 30 years. He flashed a BBMP identity card that looked genuine and his designation was field officer. He was carrying a smartphone that had records of people living in the area. He asked for our Aadhaar number, blood group and mobile number," a resident who did not wish to be named, told ET.Another resident said he was carrying what looked like a BBMP circular.

When a resident asked for his contact details, Hanumantharaju provided him with a mobile number. When ET tried to reach the man, a recorded message said that the number did not exist.Interestingly , the man gave a different mobile number to another resident. This too went unanswered.

Karnataka's chief electoral officer Anil Kumar Jha said: “The exercise to link electoral data with Aadhaar was suspended two years ago after the Supreme Court directed that Aadhaar can be linked only for consumer wel fare services such as ration and LPG." Jha pointed out that the panel cannot carry out such a project without the permission of the Supreme Court.

Even the project to link property tax payments with Aadhaar is in the proposal stage. “We are still studying its pros and cons. No final decision has been taken,“ BBMP's taxation and finance standing committee chairperson MK Gunashekhar said.

According to the Unique Identification Authority of India, as many as 88.22 lakh Bengalureans have an Aadhaar number. It is unclear how many numbers “Hanumantharaju" collected.